non-selfn.adj.
/nɒnˈsɛlf/, U.S. /ˈnɑnˈsɛlf/ A. n.
1. Chiefly Philosophy. That which is not a self, or is not regarded as part of an individual's conscious self; the external world. Also: (esp. in Buddhism) a state characterized by the absence of, or a lack of awareness of, any form of conscious, independent self.Used with various nuances, sometimes as a synonym for one or other of non-ego n., not-I n., not-me n., not-self n.Quot. 1865 refers to W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics & Logic (1859) II. xxiv. 86 where the word used is not-self.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > consciousness > subjectivity, relation to self > [noun] > non-self
not-self1829
not-me1834
non-self1865
not-I1895
1865 J. S. Mill Exam. Hamilton's Philos. x. 206 The ego is only determined in some unknown manner to represent the non-ego, which representation, though only a modification of mind or self, we are compelled..to mistake for a modification of matter, or non-self.
1874 J. Cunningham New Theory of Knowing 98 The bodily organism is the ‘debateable land’ between self and non-self.
1902 Philos. Rev. 11 140 At this stage of development it is nonsense to talk about the self or the non-self, egoism or altruism, the individual or the external world, for neither exist as far as the child is concerned.
1949 A. Koestler Insight & Outlook viii. 120 Our understanding of other personalities, of the nonself by the self.
1983 M. Carrithers Buddha iii. 45 The characteristic Buddhist doctrine of non-self, anatta, the absence of an eternal, independent Self, whether in ordinary consciousness, in meditative states or anywhere else.
1997 R. Cardinal in R. Porter Rewriting Self 136 The Fichtean trope of the dynamic relation between the Self (das Ich) and the Non-Self (das Nicht-Ich)..may be taken as an image of the free Romantic consciousness.
2. Immunology. Non-self matter.
ΚΠ
1959 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 253 439 His [sc. Macfarlane Burnet's] ideas about the body's ability to recognise ‘self’ and ‘non-self’ to a large extent predicted later findings on immunological tolerance.
1981 Sci. Amer. Feb. 80 Autoimmune diseases..result when the immune system, which ordinarily distinguishes self from nonself with great precision, begins to attack certain of the body's own cells.
1993 Sci. Amer. Sept. 41/3 At this simplest of levels, innate immunity distinguishes the molecules that make up the body, called self, from all other molecules, or nonself.
1999 Discover Mar. S11/1 HLAs help the body distinguish self from non-self.
B. adj.
Immunology. Of, relating to, or designating matter which has not been produced by a particular individual and so is identified by the body's immune system (in normal circumstances) as foreign or abnormal, provoking an immune response.
ΚΠ
1961 Science 3 Feb. 310/1 Such a concept can be represented in diagrammatic form for a cell..assumed to have..two [patterns] corresponding to non-self patterns a and b.
1970 New Scientist 19 Feb. 345/1 When a foreign protein enters the body the immune system recognizes the invader as non-self and produces antibodies which destroy it.
1984 M. J. Taussig Processes in Pathol. & Microbiol. (ed. 2) ii. 102 Tolerance can also be produced for non-self antigens if they are introduced into the foetus or newborn or in particularly large amounts in adults.
1998 C. Mims When we Die (1999) xii. 258 In the body they are constantly being inspected by the T-lymphocytes and if any are identified as foreign (‘non-self’), the cells carrying them are destroyed.
2002 Science 12 Apr. 298 The innate immune system evolved several strategies of self/nonself discrimination that are based on the recognition of molecular patterns demarcating infectious nonself.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1865